Criminal Justice News

Friday, June 08, 2012

WASHINGTON—Nevada lobbyist and lawyer
Harvey Whittemore was indicted today in the District of Nevada by a federal
grand jury on charges that he made unlawful campaign contributions to an
elected member of Congress, caused false statements to be made to the Federal
Election Commission (FEC), and lied to the FBI, announced Assistant Attorney
General Lanny A. Breuer of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and
Daniel G. Bogden, U.S. Attorney for the District of Nevada.

F. Harvey Whittemore, 55, of Reno,
Nevada, was charged with one count of making excessive campaign contributions,
one count of making contributions in the name of others, and two counts of
making a false statement to a federal agency. If convicted, Whittemore faces up
to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine on each count.

“Mr. Whittemore allegedly used his
family members and employees as conduits to make illegal contributions to the
campaign committee of an elected member of Congress,” said Assistant Attorney
General Breuer. “Furthermore, according to today’s indictment, he attempted to
conceal his crimes by lying to the FBI. Our campaign finance laws establish
maximum limits on individual contributions, and failure to adhere to those
rules jeopardizes the integrity of our elections. We will continue to pursue
those who engage in such conduct.”

“We remain committed to investigating
and prosecuting illegal behavior that jeopardizes the integrity of our
elections and corrupts our political process,” said U.S. Attorney Bogden.
“Campaign finance laws exist to protect that process and criminal violations of
those laws will be vigorously prosecuted by this office.”

Under federal law, it is illegal to
contribute to a federal political campaign using a conduit in order to hide the
identity of the true contributor. Federal law also sets limits on the amount
that an individual can contribute to a campaign. In 2007, the maximum
individual contribution was $2,300 for a primary election and $2,300 for a
general election; thus, the maximum for one candidate was $4,600.

The indictment states that Whittemore
was the chief executive of Company A. On about February 21, 2007, Whittemore
allegedly met with an elected member of Congress (identified in the indictment
as Federal Elected Official 1) and agreed to try to collect $150,000 in
contributions for the elected official’s campaign committee by March 31, 2007, which
marked the end of a legally required quarterly reporting period. Aware of the
strict limits on individual federal campaign contributions, Whittemore
allegedly devised a scheme and plan whereby he used family members, employees
of Company A, and their respective spouses as prohibited conduits through which
to funnel his own money to the federal elected official’s campaign committee
under the guise of lawful campaign contributions. This scheme allowed
Whittemore to make an individual campaign donation to the federal elected
official in excess of the limits established by federal law. Whittemore
allegedly concealed the scheme from the FEC, the elected official, and the
elected official’s campaign committee.

In March 2007, Whittemore allegedly
solicited the employees, family members, and their respective spouses to make
the maximum campaign donations to the federal elected official and reimbursed
the contributors with personal checks and wire transfers. The indictment
alleges that Whittemore attempted to conceal some of the reimbursements he made
to the contributors by telling the employees that they were bonuses. Whittemore
also allegedly paid the contributors additional money on top of the
reimbursements. If a conduit contributed $4,600, Whittemore reimbursed the
individual $5,000; likewise if a couple contributed $9,200, he paid the couple
$10,000.

On about March 28, 2007, Whittemore
allegedly caused a Company A employee to transmit $138,000 in contributions to
the federal elected official’s campaign committee, the vast majority of which
were conduit contributions that Whittemore had personally funded in order to
satisfy his pledge to the federal elected official. On April 15, 2007, the
campaign committee then unknowingly filed false reports with the FEC stating
that the conduits had made the contributions, when in fact, Whittemore had made
them.

On about February 9, 2012, Whittemore
allegedly made false statements during an interview with FBI agents by claiming
that he never made a request for campaign contributions; never asked employees
of Company A to contribute to the elected official’s campaign; never provided
payments to anyone with the expectation that they would serve as reimbursements
for campaign contributions; never spoke to any candidate about raising money
for the candidate; and never gave money to family members to make political
contributions.

The case is being investigated by the
FBI and is being prosecuted by First Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven W. Myhre,
Assistant U.S. Attorney Sue Fahami, and Trial Attorney Eric G. Olshan of the
Public Integrity Section in the Justice Department’s Criminal Division.

An indictment contains only charges and
is not evidence of guilt. The defendant is presumed innocent and is entitled to
a fair trial at which the government has the burden of proving guilt beyond a
reasonable doubt.